1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a connector such as an IC socket fitted with, for example, an IC (Integrated Circuit), etc., and more particularly to a connector capable of accomplishing electrical stability between contact members constituting the connector and a base, reduction in manufacturing cost, and simplicity in assembly, and a method of manufacturing the connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A semiconductor inspection apparatus described in Patent Document 1 temporarily electrically connects a semiconductor device to an external circuit board, etc. A plurality of spherical contact members arranged in a lattice shape or a matrix shape is provided on the rear surface of the semiconductor device, a plurality of concave portions is provided on an insulating base opposed to the contact members, and spiral contact members are oppositely disposed in the concave portions.
Since the spiral contact members windingly come in contact with the outer surfaces of the spherical contact members by pressing the rear surface side of the semiconductor device toward the insulating base, the electrical connection between the individual spherical contact members and the individual spiral contact members is surely carried out.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-175859
The formation of the spiral contact members and the bonding of the spiral contact members to the base are carried out, for example, through the processes shown in FIGS. 15 to 18.
In the process shown in FIG. 15, a resist layer not shown is deposited on a Cu substrate 80, a pattern for the spiral contact members is formed in the resist layer through exposure and development, and the contact members 81 are plated inside the pattern.
In the process shown in FIG. 16, a guide frame 82 is positioned such that hole portions 82a provided in the guide frame 82 are precisely opposed to the respective spiral contact members 81, and then the guide frame 82 is bonded between the respective spiral contact members 81.
Next, in the process shown in FIG. 17, the Cu substrate 80 is removed, for example, using an etching method, etc.
Next, in the process shown in FIG. 18, the spiral contact members 81 are bonded and fixed to the base 83 in which concave portions 83a are formed at the positions precisely opposed to the spiral contact members 81, using a conductive adhesive 84. A conductive material layer 85 is formed around the concave portions 83a of the base 83, for example, using a plating method or a sputtering method.
Almost the same processes as the aforementioned processes are disclosed in FIG. 37 of Patent Document 1.
However, there are the following problems in the structures themselves of the base 83 and the spiral contact members 81 shown in FIG. 18, the aforementioned process of forming the spiral contact members, and the aforementioned process of bonding the spiral contact members to the base.
First, the electrical stability between the spiral contact members and the base 11 becomes unstable. As shown in FIG. 18, the spiral contact members 81 are opposed to the concave portions 83a provided in the base 83 and the bottom portions of the spiral contact members 81 are bonded to the base 83 with a conductive adhesive 84 therebetween. In this way, since the spiral contact members 81 are opposed to the concave portions 83a of the base 83, the spiral contact members 81 cannot be surface-mounted, so that it is easy to make the electrical stability unstable between the spiral contact members 81 and the base 83 with the conductive adhesive 84 interposed therebetween. In FIG. 18, a circuit board not shown is provided under the base 83, and the spiral contact members 81 and the circuit board are electrically connected through the conductive layer 85 formed around the concave portions 83a of the base 83. However, when the electrical stability between the spiral contact members 81 and the base 83 becomes unstable as described above, the electrical stability between the spiral contact members 81 and the circuit board also becomes unstable, so that the electrical characteristics of semiconductor devices cannot be properly measured even when using the semiconductor inspection apparatus having the spiral contact members 81 and the base 83 shown in FIG. 18.
In an actual semiconductor inspection apparatus, as can be seen from FIG. 1, etc. of Patent Document 1, a plurality of spiral contact members is provided and a sheet provided with the plurality of spiral contact members is attached to the surface of the base similarly provided with a plurality of concave portions.
However, since the plurality of concave portions is provided on the surface of the base, and the sheet is very thin and can be easily deformed, it is difficult to perform uniform compression when pressing the sheet of the spiral contact members onto the base, so that it is easy to cause plural spiral contact members to have defective electrical connection to the circuit board.
Second, the base 83 to which the spiral contact members 81 are bonded is generally expensive, thereby causing increase in manufacturing cost. As described above, the base 83 is provided with the concave portions 83a and the conductive layer 85 is formed around the insides of the concave portions 83a using a plating method or sputtering method. Since the base 83 having been subjected to the complex machining in this way is an expensive purchased product and thus causes increase in manufacturing cost of the connector, it is preferable if it is possible to produce a base 83 with low price resulting from simpler machining and lower cost for material.
Third, in the process shown in FIG. 17, since the Cu substrate 80 for forming the spiral contact members 81 is completely removed using an etching process, etc., the Cu substrate 80 is required for every formation of the spiral contact members 81, and since the conductive member connecting the top portion and the bottom portion of each spiral contact member is formed out of another component, increase in cost for forming the spiral contact members 81 themselves occurs.